Ballots will be arriving in the hands of member actors of the Actors Equity Association. Its important to keep 99 Seat Theatre alive in Los Angeles. A “NO” vote will insure that the 99 Seat Agreement remains in place and is not changed.

I remember watching Dr. George and his signature bow-tie on television until he retired from ABC and enjoyed his re-emergence KCBS in the mid-to-late 1990s.

For many Angelenos, Dr. George was more than just the weatherman. He taught us about jet streams, high and low pressures and millibars. When he was giving us his forecast for the highs and lows for the next day, he’d also remind us to be good citizens and take care of each other.

He was also an ambassador of good will both on and off the set. For years, he collected toys for children at Porterville State Hospital.

Years after he retired, he gave his support to ABC7’s Spark of Love Toy Drive.

I’m not a total rube as I at least knew who Sondheim was before this past weekend’s opening of “Putting it Together” at the Sierra Madre Playhouse. I couldn’t have told you what he wrote or even hum a few bars before then. Now I can. He’s a bright lively composer who’s lyrics are not only cunning but witty. Many times the audience broke into laughter during Friday nights performance.

The all star cast is directed and choregraphed by Cate Caplin with Jake Anthony as the music director. The cast consists of Kurt Andrew Hansen, Kristin Towers-Rowles, Chris Kerrigan, Rachel Hirshee and Mike Irizarry who use a series of 31 Sondheim songs to tell a story of love, marriage, and mistresses during the course of a 1 percenters cocktail party. Yup, there’s a twist and the bitterness of the woman scorned comes across in a most comical way.

Of all the songs in the play, “Bang” was my favorite. Didn’t involve guns, but rather was the exclamation point in the digression of young lovers and love making to bitter married folks having dutiful relations in the bedroom. That’s as delicate as I can put it…but that song alone had us laughing out loud during the performance. The actions of the cast added hysterical emphasis.

Putting it Together runs through March 28 at the Sierra Madre Playhouse.

Added bonus. This weekend only 3/20-3/21. On Web sales only. Buy one seat, get the second seat free. Makes for a very and cheap date night! Order tickets HERE with the promo code BOGO.

Added bonus, if you are interested in Einstein is a Dummy that I reviewed recently, this Sunday, 3/22 Performance is also included in the buy one get one promotion on web sales only. Order Tickets here with the promo code BOGO.

I knew about Tower Records long before I moved here. Sunset and Horn. My bestest buddy from college lived just up the hill on Horn from there. Every trip to visit Los Angeles included at trip to Tower Records to soak up the vibe and pick up the lastest and greatest tunes. And star sightings. Lots of them back in the 80s. Even after I moved here and was living in Canoga Park I still made it there often. As I look at my collection of tapes and CD’s and odd bits of vinyl each brings back a memory of a trip there.

The Grammy Museum at L.A Live has a documentary on the rise and fall of Tower Records that will show March 25, 2015. Tickets are on sale now . Reel to Reel: All Things Must Pass promises to be a joyous trip down memory lane. The old store may have been killed by the MP3 pirates, but its memories will live on.

One of the first places I turn to of late if I’m looking for anti-cycling news and views is the L.A. Weakly. More often than not, it seems they’ve adopted the less-enlightened view of the urban activity shed by the Los Angeles Times a few years ago. Which is why I was so surprised to see this positive article in this week’s issue on tomorrow morning’s Marathon bike ride, as it moves from guerrilla event toward a potential for full legitimacy.

Of course, that didn’t mean the feature wasn’t wrong on an historic point:

Article quote: “For years, the L.A. Marathon’s route was a loop. Before the footrace began, an official bike ride was held with corporate sponsorship and everything. But in 2009, the marathon route was changed to a straight shot from Dodger Stadium to the sea, and the bike ride was dropped for fear that thousands of cyclists wouldn’t be able to get their bikes home.”

If you want to drink that Koolaid as to the demise of the Bike Tour being on a loop route that couldn’t coexist with an A-B marathon route, go ahead. But in 2007 when the marathon introduced a point-to-point route that began in Universal City and ended downtown (and continued again in 2008) the Bike Tour’s approximately 10,000 bicyclists pedaled on a SEPARATE loop route that began and ended in the vicinity of Exposition Park. Imagine that. PS. I know this personally because in 2007 I actually did both events that fateful day.

So my advice is to put down that Dixie cup and understand that the marathon’s leadershit (NOT a typo) under owner Frank McCourt, didn’t kill the 15-year tradition of the Bike Tour because it was concerned the poor wittle cycwists wouldn’t be able to find their way home after cwossing the finish wine. Nah, they simply and unceremoniously dumped the popular Bike Tour component after 2009 — and did so under the blazingly false pretense of developing a corresponding “world class” cycling event to replace it. When they didn’t spend a fraction of a second creating that, Don “Roadblock” Ward, gawd bless him, stepped in all guerrilla-style and the Marathon Crash Race was born, now perhaps ironically to evolve into what may very well one day become a legitimate “world class” bicycling component on Marathon Day.

Bonus clip: My timelapse from 2009 and what would be mine and the last bike tour (I had pedaled in every previous one back to the event’s inception in 1995).

Seriously, one of my favorite events is always involving cars on a closed circuit track where you can run ‘em through an obstacle course. It gives you a better sense of what the car is about, how its built than the typical around the block test drive. You’ll get your chance to do just that this weekend at the Ecoboost Challenge at the Santa Anita Park in Arcadia on Saturday 3/14.

Ford hosts the event and challenges the top competitors on the track. Fusion vs Camry, Escape vs CRV, Prius V vs C-Max, and F150 vs Silverado. You get to do them on a track and compare how they handle…or don’t. How fast they accellerate and brake, steering nimbleness and all the stuff you normally don’t get to do. With the hybrids the track is geared towards seeing who can get the best mpg….I won with 68.5 with a CMax Energi last year.

The ABSOLUTE best part of the entire day is the ST Performance Academy. First year it was both a Focus ST and Fiesta ST, last year it was just a Fiesta ST on a timed, fast as you can go on a track, after a bit of coaching prior to your run. Best of 3 laps is your time in the competition. It if weren’t for a ringer last year I would have placed 2nd on the course, but I’ll take a respectable third when its only a few tenths behind #2.

You can particpate simply by registering and bringing your Driver’s license to the track at your appointed time. REGISTER HERE.

I’ll be there 3/13 on a press pass and drop spoilers before you get to the course yourself. If you do the ST Performance Academy, and like, who WOULDN’T, post your time and we’ll see who amongst us at the best.

Its science to nurture your inner nerd. It has a message…its ok to be curious, its ok to ask why, its OK to be different. All the issues every kid struggles with to be “popular” and be themselves at the same time is explored in this high energy production that opened at the Sierra Madre Playhouse this weekend. Think of it as Energy, the good kind like a colorful Saturday morning exploding on stage (and off at times) with the angst of a kid who doesn’t fit in and wants to.

Einstein is a Dummy is written by Karen Zacarias and brilliantly presented under the direction of Derek Manson for the Sierra Madre Playhouse. Add in the musical score by Deborah Wicks LaPuma and you’ve got a show that kids will enjoy while picking up some lessons on personal identity and real science.

This is repertory theatre. The play has two cast so as to stage it for evening performances as well as matinee’s for schools here in the SGV. (This play is aimed at the 3rd-8th grade student). Regardless of which cast you see, you will have fun with your young genius. I saw the Electron cast, those that have seen the Proton cast were equally amazed at the production.

The play starts with young Einstein talk with a stray cat in advance of leaving for a music recital. Here we get the first hint at his curiosity and the gift of a compass that started him thinking about and developing his theory of relativity. Its this first bit where we learn that Einstein sees and hears the world differently. Read the rest of this entry →

Lisa Barrios, owner of Monrovia’s Paint n Play Art Studio and Gallery has been doing this program for several years now. Holdn’ Hands, Helpin’ Hearts is simply getting the hand print of a child or other loved one with cancer in clay and producing a legacy keepsake for the family. It started with a special request several years ago from a little boy at the City of Hope with terminal cancer. Lisa did it, no charge to the family so they would have one last keepsake from their little boy before he passed.

Lisa does this out of the goodness of her heart. She has done imprints of little ones in morturaries for families who lost a child and she couldn’t get to them fast enough as she wants them to have that one last keepsake of their little hand. She’s always done it free of charge. She’s done it countless times.

KNBC’s Angie Crouch heard of the program and interviewed Lisa and some of the families she has helped. The segment will air Sunday night on KNBC channel 4 on the “Life Connected” show that airs Sunday 3/8 at 11PM. IT will repeat Monday 3/9 at Noon during the afternoon news. The story promises to be heart wrenching and enlightening.

If you would like to donate to the program you may do so through the Monrovia Association of Fine Arts that has long been a supporter of the program. Make your check payable to the Monrovia Assocation of Fine Arts and send it to us at 418 S Myrtle Avenue, Monrovia CA 91016

As a disclaimer, I’m a board member of the Monrovia Association of Fine Arts, and I can assure you the money’s donated go directly to keeping this program going.

I’m pretty jazzed about this. A first for the play house, opening 2 plays a week apart. Running concurrent for a few weeks. A hefty undertaking, but the cast and crew of the playhouse are up to making it happen.

Opening tonight, 3/7/2015 is Einstein is a Dummy. A play really geared for the family but especially 3rd to 8th graders. The nerdy types that are too smart for their own good but don’t test well…I had one of those kinda kinds in my brood. This musical production centers around the life of young Albert Einstein at age 12 trying to fit in.

As an adult, Albert Einstein changed our view of the universe. But as a boy, he struggled with the same issues
any 12-year-old might—keeping up with violin lessons, impressing the girl next door and, oh yeah, comprehending the fundamental relationship of space and time to the speed of light, of course. This uplifting play about a fictional day in young Einstein’s life confirms that each of us is both ordinary and special. The whole family will love this delightful musical.

All you need to know about show date and times as well as ticket purchasing HERE.

President Janie Duncan mans the Monrovia Rock Hounds booth at a recent event.

Its here again. The ever popular Monrovia Rock Hounds gem and mineral show at the Los Angeles Arboretum.

There will be over 15 vendors selling Gems, Jewelry, Minerals, Fossils, Beads, Findings. Monrovia Rockhounds members will crack Geodes, identify rocks in our famous Grab Bags and man Treasure Wheel where everybody wins, let you pick out fossils at our Dino Dig and Fossil Find. On Sunday there will be a drawing for the great items in the Grand Prize Raffle. A complete list of activities and vendors on the MoRocks Web Site.

Its a complex issue that doesn’t need to be. There’s an agreement with the 99 Seat Theatres and the Actors Equity Association that exempts smaller non-profit theatres from paying a union scale in exchange for allowing actors to hone their craft, make “art” if you will. Its been in force for ages, it what allows dozens of small theatres spread about Los Angeles to operate. Without it they would wither and actors more interested in the art and developing their talent will be shut out.

Step in I Love 99.org to put forth all the facts and explain why its important and what you can do to preserve the agreement with Actors Equity. Within their website are many links to tools to help your voice be heard if you wish to keep 99 Seat Theatre alive in Los Angeles.

Of course I have an emotional interest in keeping 99 Seat Theatre alive in Los Angeles. It goes beyond keeping my friends busy, its about keeping art alive in the city. The loss of the 99 Seat Theatre would be devastating to them as well as the businesses around the theatres that depend on the traffic they generate. I’ve taken my love of small theatre to the next level and am working on the board of directors with Sierra Madre Playhouse to help them grow and evolve in the community. I don’t take this potential loss lightly.

Please support this cause in any way you can. Tweet your support and use the hashtags #ILove99, #Pro99 . #LAThtr

I wish I had more information for you, but I just got notice and no press release with a lot of details. Altadena Heritage is putting on the discussion with 3 speakers on the importantance of Hahamonga and the Arroyo Seco river system that brings rain water from the San Gabriesl to the ocean. The speakers are:

Dave Douglas, PhD, Geologist and Dean of PCC School of Science and Mathematics

Perhaps, like many people, you observe Valentines Day. I do not. In my household, on February 14, we observe CHEESEBURGERTINES DAY, a far superior holiday with a singular purpose: it is a day on which you get someone who likes you to buy you a cheeseburger. Yes, it is a fake holiday that I made up. No, that does not make it any less of a holiday.

While the inaugural Cheeseburgertines Day took place at The Apple Pan (NATURALLY), we celebrate Cheeseburgertines Day at a different burger joint every year, in honor of the amazing plethora of great burger places in Los Angeles. We have been to fancy burger places (Cheeseburgertines Day 2014: The Tripel), and less fancy but no less delicious burger places (Cheeseburgertines Day 2013: Corner Burger).

This year, we hit up Shaka Shack Burgers in Santa Monica. Shaka Shack is Hawaiian-tiki-surfboard-themed, which appeals greatly to my appetite for kitsch; and the burgers were fantastic, A+ cheeseburgers, which appealed greatly to my appetite for burgers. They were seriously good burgers that I would pick over In-n-Out any day.

Special mention, though, goes to Shaka Shack’s fries, which were possibly the best fries that I’ve had in Los Angeles. You know how the best fries are the really crispy ones at the bottom of the basket? Well, every fry in our order was one of those. And you can get them with truffle salt. Not the healthiest choice, maybe, but that is why Cheeseburgertines Day comes but once a year.

It was with not a little fanfare less than two years ago that the road around the reservoir known as Lake Hollywood was reopened to walkers, runners and cyclists, a scenic route that had been closed since landslides during those crazy rains of 2005.

Little did I know that when my wife Susan and I drove over there this morning and set out with our faithful — and needless to say well-behaved and leashed-up — border collie mix Ranger to explore that roughly 3.3-mile loop for the first time, we would be greeted by this sign at the north gate and again at the east gate:

Being that I’m law-abiding to a fault I dutifully turned us around and we made our way to the far more enlightened Parc du Griffith where dogs are not a crime. Soon we found our way along a loop that included a rigorously vertical set of dirt steps carved into the hillside and leading to the oasis that is Amir’s Garden.

While one part of me is all “Thank you!” to the dog-banning powers that be at Lake Hollywood for allowing us to discover a previously unknown aspect of Griffith Park, the other part is all “You dog-banning powers that be at Lake Hollywood totally suck!” And it was that latter half that got all googly once I got home in searching out the specific statute — LAMC 64.06 — authorizing the prohibition. Turns out it’s an ordinance designed to prevent water contamination that reads a little somethin’ like this (on the other side of the jump):